Free Comic Book Day, the annual occasion celebrated in nearly every comic store across the world returns on May 7, offering – you guessed it! – free comic books to anybody who shows up. As is customary, 2022’s Free Comic Book Day will coincide with the theatrical debut of a Marvel-based comic book picture – in this case, Marvel Studios’ Doctor Strange In the Multiverse of Madness, which might be the biggest comic book movie of the year. On this day, comic book stores will provide a diverse selection of comics from a predetermined comics list containing books from dozens of publishers in every genre for readers of all ages. And of course, lots of superheroes. Marvel superheroes, especially.
The Origin of Free Comic Book Day
Joe Field founded Free Comic Book Day in 2001. He was running a comic book business next to a Baskin-Robbins ice cream restaurant, which seemed to generate a lot of promotional equity from their Free Scoop Day. Inspired by this he began to picture what it might be like to have a Free Comic Book Day.
While writing for a comic book industry publication, Joe mentioned that there has been a revival in comic book purchases as a result of the recent influx of comic book franchise movies. Thus, Joe proposed the establishment of a Free Comic Book Day to coincide with the release of superhero movies. In fact, the first one coincided with the release of the 2002 Spider-Man film, seeking to capitalise on the publicity and buzz around it in the press and other media outlets.
Traditions of Free Comic Book Day
This day is an annual promotional effort launched by the comic book industry to attract new readers while also maintaining the art of comic books and graphic novels. Typically, a free comic promotes an initial issue of a new plot or future events. A council of comic book dealers choose about 46 titles that comic book stores hand out. The comics list includes 11 Gold Sponsor comics and 35 Silver Sponsor comics, so enthusiasts and newbies can discover great new titles and genres. some of this year’s list comics list include:
- Ten Ton Press’s 10 Ton Tales
- Dark Horse Comics’ Avatar: The Last Airbender / Legend of Korra
- Marvel Comics’ Avengers / X-Men #1 and Spider-Man/Venom #1
- DC League of Super-Pets
- Fantagraphics Books’ Disney Masters Donald Duck & Co. Special
- Titan Comics’ Doctor Who
- Image Comics’ Bone Orchard Mythos Prelude
- AfterShock Comics’ Bunny Mask Tales
- BOOM! Studios’ Hollow Preview
- VIZ Media’s Pokemon Journeys/Pokemon Adventures: XY
- Graphix or Scholastic’s The Rema Chronicles: Realm of the Blue Mist
Most comic book stores also offer substantial discounts on regular comics.
The day is frequently the busiest day of the year for the industry, with the highest sales. Footfall in comic stores is significantly higher than on other days since many individuals who never enter comic shops are more likely to do so on this day.
Is it Possible to Get Free Comic Books Online?
As the goal of Free Comic Book Day is to stimulate comic readership through comic book stores, publishers normally do not make digital copies of the free comics available. Some do ultimately make their way online, either through the publisher’s digital app, website, or a service like ComiXology.
What Can You Do This Free Comic Book Day?
You can celebrate this day with some of these suggestions:
Participate in a Comic Book Event
Many local comic businesses will be celebrating not just by giving out free comics, but also by conducting activities, so visit your local comic shop to participate. Look online to see what type of events they could have, such as author or artist signings, raffles, contests, prizes, and so on.
And, of course, while you’re there, take advantage of as many free comic books offers as you can. Here is a video that gives you the best titles you can pick up.
Hold a Comic Book Party
Free comic books are a fantastic excuse to hold a party! After visiting the Free Comic Book Day event at your local shop, gather a group of friends or fellow comic book fans and enjoy reading and trading comic books. Guests may dress up as their favourite comic book characters, eat comic-themed food, and even watch comic-book-themed movies together.
Bring out the console games (Wii, XBOX, or Playstation) for a surprise free play or gaming competition. Comic-based games include not just Mario Kart and Super Smash Brothers, but also Halo, DC vs. Mortal Kombat, Injustice, and more.
Buy Some Comic Books
While This day is certainly an opportunity to try free comics sourced from a local comic retailer, it is also the ideal opportunity to support the industry by making a purchase. And why not, since you’re already there?!
Most everyone knows of the mainstream comic retailers DC and Marvel, but there are hundreds of other publishers, in addition to those two, who produce amazing comics on every topic that can be imagined.
Comic Book Crafts For Kids
Kids can also enjoy this day by creating different superhero or comic character-themed crafts. There are TONS of superhero craft ideas floating about on blogs and online. Ideas range from developing your own superhero/villain persona to buttons and comic canvases. Alternatively, they could put on their thinking caps and come up with a witty narrative to tell in comic form. they may create a comic from scratch or utilise family photos and add amusing comments with the Strip Designer software. You can watch the video to learn more.
Final Thoughts
To this day, comic books remain one of the only art forms that appeal to kids, teens and parents. However, with the countless digital media that is released every day, people are slowly losing interest in comics. Free Comic Book Day was introduced to rescue the art form and continues to ignite the interest in comics in many people.
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